Heavily financed initiatives likely on fall ballot

Supporters of charter schools and a “super-majority” vote requirement in the state Legislature submitted petition signatures in Olympia on Friday, with both measures in a good position to make the ballot.

Billionaires will not take no for an answer. Charter schools have been defeated three times in the last 16 years. But the campaign has already been fueled by $1 million from Bill Gates, $100,000 from Paul Allen and $450,000 from the parents of amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos.

Eyman (seattlepi.com file photo)

The money has paid for signature mercenaries who collected an estimated 350,000-plus signatures. A total of 241,000 valid voter signatures are required to secure a place on the November ballot.

Close behind came initiative promoter Tim Eyman with I-1185, for which he submitted 318,000 signatures: The measure would restate the requirement of a two-thirds vote in each house of the Legislature to enact new taxes or close tax loopholes. It requires a majority vote to raise fees.

Eyman has depicted himself as a populist, but this year’s campaign has sprung from the grassroots of corporate country clubs. In fact, Eyman may have earned the nickname “Slick.”

Major oil companies fueled the signature campaign with $400,000 in contributions. The Beer Institute bellied up with another $400,000. Money to Eyman’s campaign was channeled through the Association of Washington Business Political Action Committee.

(King County Democratic Chairman Steve Zemke stood near Eyman in Olympia with a sign noting Big Oil’s contributions to the populist cause.)

Big Oil (BP, ConocoPhillips, Tesoro, Shell) is making an astute investment. The Legislature, in 2010, came within an eyelash of enacting a small per-barrel tax on oil that was designed to pay for spill prevention and measures to curb stormwater pollution into Puget Sound.

With a two-thirds requirement, there’s no way the oil tax will pass . . . and no way any additional taxes will be slapped on beer sales. The beer industry has long been a power in state legislatures around the country.

The two measures make six votes likely this fall. “Both are widely expected to make the fall ballot but the Elections Division will do a careful random sample to assure that over 241,000 valid signatures were returned by Friday’s deadline,” said Dave Ammons of the Secretary of State’s office.

Marriage equality and marijuana legalization are the two other high-profile November ballot measures. As usual, too, Seattle will be voting on a big tax levy.